Mr. Handford welcomes the viewer to Sesame Street. Maria announces that the mayor is going to award someone the "City Helper's Surprise Prize" today, and the winner happens to be someone on Sesame Street. The prize will go to someone who comes up with great new ideas to help make the city a better place to live. She and Telly think it will be Mr. Handford, who put some recycling bins outside of Hooper's Store. Mr. Handford knows for sure that he's not the recipient, because the mayor asked him to present the award. And he will not tell Telly and Maria who it is, because then it wouldn't be a surprise. Telly is determined to find out who it is!

Cartoon

A paranoid bird doesn't like to be surprised ... unless it's a surprise party.Artist: John Korty

Grover sells newspapers in the street. He thinks they are for making paper hats, but a customer shows him they are actually for reading. The customer wants to buy a newspaper, but Grover won't stop reading the paper that the customer wants to buy. Grover reads about construction of a new building, a parade, and an expected rain shower, all of which occur as Grover reads.

A map of Africa morphs into the shape of animals that are found there.

SCENE 3

Big Bird gathers Maria, Snuffy and the kids in the courtyard to reveal the number of the day, 16. Maria points out that there are only 7 of them in the courtyard, and they need 9 more to make 16 people. However, Big Bird points out that there are enough feet to count - 6 of them have 2 feet, making 12, and Snuffy's 4 feet make 16 feet! They all play soccer.

SCENE 3cont'd

Telly is impressed with Big Bird's logic, and thinks he will win. According to Mr. Handford, Big Bird is not the winner.

Telly's goal is still to find out who will win the City Helper's Surprise Prize today. Just then, Sidney comes by with some empty soda cans for Mr. Handford. Mr. Handford points him to the recycling bins, and he almost makes the mistake of putting an aluminum can in a plastic bin. He arranges his recyclables on a table and sings "One of These Things" to help himself (and the viewer) figure out what goes where. He remarks, "You gotta have a sharp eye to get into recycling!" Telly is sure Sidney will win the prize, but Mr. Handford disagrees.

Cartoon

A story of a cat who hated rain, wished for it to stop, and witnessed the disastrous effects of no rain.Artist: ArtistMike

Animation

Teeny Little Superguy: Robert W. Shipshape gets a hat for his birthday, and it blows into the street. R.W. remembers not to cross the street without an adult; Teeny Little Superguy helps him across.Artist: Paul Fierlinger

... Oscar! He gets the prize because he is always coming up with uses for what we call "trash." Oscar is outraged that he's been doing a good deed by using others' discarded items, and thus does not want the award.

Mr. Handford approaches Oscar with a small tree, which the mayor said Oscar could have instead of the medal. Oscar agrees to plant the tree inside his trash can - though he has Mr. Handford do it by dropping it down there, where it falls a long way and hits the dirt. Telly announces the sponsors, and a full credit crawl follows.